Sunday, December 31, 2023

Goodbye 2023, hello Mardi Gras

BILOXI, Miss. - Goodbye 2023, and hello Mardi Gras! 

It’s almost time to throw those beads and get ready to flood the streets of Coastal Mississippi with floats and cheers.

“It’s almost Carnival time,” said Coastal Mississippi Mardi Gras Museum Executive Director Anna Harris. “Carnival starts on Epiphany. So, we celebrate on January 5th, we’re having our Twelfth Night celebration here in Biloxi.” 

The 12th-night celebration commemorates the official beginning of the highly-anticipated Carnival season, a time of year rooted in the Christian tradition.

“If you know about the 12 days of Christmas, they end on Epiphany, when the wise men came and found the baby Jesus,” explained Harris. “That begins the season of Carnival which runs through Mardi Gras day, the day before we begin Christian Lent on Ash Wednesday.”

Mardi Gras Museum Board of Trustees President, Susan Hunt, said her grandfather is the one who brought the Mardi Gras spirit to the Gulf Coast. He created what is now known as the Gulf Coast Carnival Association, the oldest carnival in the state of Mississippi. This year marks the association’s 116th year. 

Hunt now spends her days giving back to the community her grandfather built. 

The museum and Main Street Biloxi are teaming up for the Twelfth Night celebration to be held on Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m. in front of City Hall. Featured music by the Bucktown All-Stars starts at 7 p.m. (WLOX 12/30/23)

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